The grip of sporting equipment such as golf clubs provides the contact point via which the user controls the club. As is well known in the art, the grip improves user comfort and provides a secure contact between the golf club and the user's hands. Desirably, the grip will provide a suitable compromise between such user comfort and a level of contact which allows the user to “feel” the shot being struck, i.e., to detect that suitable contact between club and ball has been achieved.
For golf clubs such as putters, it is known to provide oversized grips, that is, grips having an external diameter significantly greater than that of a conventional club grip. The advantages touted for oversized grips for putters include improved stability of hands and wrists, thereby transferring control of the putter stroke to larger, more stable muscle groups such as the chest and torso. Further, an oversized grip reduces the tendency to grip the club too strongly during the putting stroke. These features reduce wrist action during the putting stroke, promoting the desired “pendulum” stroke for a putt and allowing greater putting accuracy.
It is also known to provide a putter having a long grip, that is, a grip that is significantly elongated in comparison to a grip of conventional length. Such grips are often associated with a putter having an overall length that is significantly greater than a conventional putter length, such as a “belly putter” or a so-called “long putter.” These putter types allow a more upright stance and further reduce wrist action during the putting stroke, again promoting the desired “pendulum” stroke. The long grip also provides the user with multiple options for hand positioning, to achieve the most comfortable grip for the particular user.
It is possible to provide an oversized grip, including an oversized long grip, by simply increasing the size and thickness of a grip of conventional design made of conventional materials such as rubber. However, simply increasing the size of a standard rubber grip correspondingly increases the weight of the grip, and thereby the weight of the club as a whole. This increase in grip weight not only alters the club weight, but also undesirably affects the balance and “feel” of a club such as a putter, making it top-heavy. There is accordingly a need in the art for grips for sporting equipment having gripping ends such as golf clubs, which provide an oversized gripping area without undesirably adding weight or altering club balance and feel.